Advice:
1) Don’t get a parking ticket. Even if it doesn’t seem like an actual road but rather more like an alley/parking area remember to park facing the right way.
2) Don’t lose your parking ticket. It’s a small bit of paper but pretty important.
3) Don’t forget to change your address on the registration for your car if you move flats. Reminders about parking tickets will be sent there.
4) If you have forgotten, remember to check before you sell your car – it’s an awkward time to find out.
5) Ask someone to keep an eye out for documents arriving at your old flat concerning the sale of your car and when they tell you there is a letter from the Ministry of Justice rather than Land Transport try not to have accrued massive fines for ignoring the reminders which you didn't know were coming.
6) Pay the new fees before you lose the letter and ticket again.
Well at least I managed to do two of those....
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Oozing over with reflectiveness
I didn’t have a lot of expectations coming to New Zealand. My last semester at Morris was challenging. Trying to create and complete my interdisciplinary honors project and carry on despite its consistent deviation away from what I wanted to be the focus (the topic itself wasn’t what I would have preferred to do because professors had left and instead grew more and more into an argument about a tiny historiographical detail that didn’t really ultimately matter for the field of geology or philosophy) When I finally got it done and defended, I had to immediately turn around and start a huge mess of philosophy assignments while trying to attend to other senior sem projects, tidy up the affairs of clubs with which I was affiliated, and generally do every characteristic Morrisian activity I could before I left for good. That said, I didn’t have a ton of time to imagine what New Zealand would be like. When I did think about it though, my ideas about NZ were framed around academic aims, potential cultural experiences, and excitement about different natural phenomena I might observe. But when I think about defining moments in my experiences in Otago, many of them are just life lessons about dealing with people, not Kiwis specifically. Buying and selling a car, trying to navigate through flat disputes, cooking, etc. Living abroad forced me to make a lot of tough decisions on my own because those who I usually count on to give in advice were not necessarily around (due to 17 hour time gap) or able to be contacted (due to sketchy internet service) when I needed them.
If you had told me when I was a freshman that during university I would go abroad at all much less live in another country for a full year, I would have laughed until my sides hurt too much to stand. I had been ill for too long to even have the desire to be well enough to travel – I couldn’t remember what it would be like not to be nauseous all the time or imagine reaching a point where I wouldn’t be concerned about the possiblity of throwing up in public places. I distinctly remember going to a scholarship information meeting at the beginning of sophomore year and deciding that none of them were applicable to me because they were either extremely specific or involved some abroad component. To have last minute decided to enter the honors program, to have heard about the abroad trip to Scotland while on the way back from the annual Gutherie trip (and thus got up the nerve to go far before it was an official program), to have gone to Scotland and been extremely sorry I had not tried to attend a uni abroad for a whole semester, and to have gotten a chance after all of those lovely coincidences...there aren’t enough synonyms for “lucky”.
If you had told me when I was a freshman that during university I would go abroad at all much less live in another country for a full year, I would have laughed until my sides hurt too much to stand. I had been ill for too long to even have the desire to be well enough to travel – I couldn’t remember what it would be like not to be nauseous all the time or imagine reaching a point where I wouldn’t be concerned about the possiblity of throwing up in public places. I distinctly remember going to a scholarship information meeting at the beginning of sophomore year and deciding that none of them were applicable to me because they were either extremely specific or involved some abroad component. To have last minute decided to enter the honors program, to have heard about the abroad trip to Scotland while on the way back from the annual Gutherie trip (and thus got up the nerve to go far before it was an official program), to have gone to Scotland and been extremely sorry I had not tried to attend a uni abroad for a whole semester, and to have gotten a chance after all of those lovely coincidences...there aren’t enough synonyms for “lucky”.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
I think I can, I thought I could, I thought you could
I think I can get all of my stuff packed, my final essay exam finished, and figure out a way to get to the airport; I thought I could survive downhill skiing (and fortunately was correct!); Thomas (my car), I knew you could make it up every hill and down every crazy steep narrow ford-filled gravel road without any mechanical breakdowns!
One week remains of the great New Zealand adventure!
I went downhill skiing for the first time in ten years! It was a very spontaneous trip with four other awesome exchange students and about 3 hours between being first told about it and leaving. We were extremely lucky in every respect: 1) even though technically we went after rental hours, the guy at the unipol (fitness centre) “snow shed” hadn’t left yet and fitted us with gear anyway 2) we got the last room in the backpackers and found it without looking up its location or asking for directions 3) the weather was brilliant. Two of the girls had been in Tonga the week before so we listened to a CD they had purchased there as we drove up the steep snowy road to Coronet Peak. I spent most of the day on the “easy” slope trying to learn how to slow up by skiing side to side. I went on a few intermediate hills including skiing down from the highest chairlift! The Remarkables were indeed remarkable with their fresh glistening snow, though I spent most of the day staring at my skis. ^_^ Spent a lot of time sprawled in the snow but it was good fun with good people.
Remind me to never buy or sell a car ever again. I sold dear Thomas, my trusty automobile yesterday. He was the best anthropomorphised 1993 Honda Civic to ever roam NZ roads. It was pretty weird watching someone else (much less an unlicensed moody and absent-minded polytech student) get in and drive away, knowing that I wouldn’t ever see him again. The trade also involved dealing with an extremely annoying father whose every phrase was a constant barrage of intimidation attempts. It was sort of fun at first since I picked up quick on what he was doing. I had so many people interested in viewing the car that I never managed to contact them all and, thus, any attempt he made at telling me I would get a bad price if I took it to auction (my last resort if I couldn’t sell it quick enough) resulted in me trying not to laugh while I repeatedly explained that I was confident I would find a private buyer. It became less fun when he finally made a reasonable offer and I ended up having to deal with him for another half day. I did get to make faces at some giggling babies during the 20 minutes it took to sort out the fact that the actual owner of the car had brought no forms of identification with her.
Thomas, the little car that could:
One week remains of the great New Zealand adventure!
I went downhill skiing for the first time in ten years! It was a very spontaneous trip with four other awesome exchange students and about 3 hours between being first told about it and leaving. We were extremely lucky in every respect: 1) even though technically we went after rental hours, the guy at the unipol (fitness centre) “snow shed” hadn’t left yet and fitted us with gear anyway 2) we got the last room in the backpackers and found it without looking up its location or asking for directions 3) the weather was brilliant. Two of the girls had been in Tonga the week before so we listened to a CD they had purchased there as we drove up the steep snowy road to Coronet Peak. I spent most of the day on the “easy” slope trying to learn how to slow up by skiing side to side. I went on a few intermediate hills including skiing down from the highest chairlift! The Remarkables were indeed remarkable with their fresh glistening snow, though I spent most of the day staring at my skis. ^_^ Spent a lot of time sprawled in the snow but it was good fun with good people.
Remind me to never buy or sell a car ever again. I sold dear Thomas, my trusty automobile yesterday. He was the best anthropomorphised 1993 Honda Civic to ever roam NZ roads. It was pretty weird watching someone else (much less an unlicensed moody and absent-minded polytech student) get in and drive away, knowing that I wouldn’t ever see him again. The trade also involved dealing with an extremely annoying father whose every phrase was a constant barrage of intimidation attempts. It was sort of fun at first since I picked up quick on what he was doing. I had so many people interested in viewing the car that I never managed to contact them all and, thus, any attempt he made at telling me I would get a bad price if I took it to auction (my last resort if I couldn’t sell it quick enough) resulted in me trying not to laugh while I repeatedly explained that I was confident I would find a private buyer. It became less fun when he finally made a reasonable offer and I ended up having to deal with him for another half day. I did get to make faces at some giggling babies during the 20 minutes it took to sort out the fact that the actual owner of the car had brought no forms of identification with her.
Thomas, the little car that could:
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Missitude
Less than two weeks to go! So in a last ditch effort to make use of this space I am going to try to post something every day for my remaining time in NZ ! Feel free to mock me endlessly when I don’t!
Things I miss: family/friends, snow, insulation/double paned windows, being warm when its winter, thunderstorms, squirrels, loons, frogs, MN vegetation in general (maple, oak, pine), piano!!!, people with which to sing, reliable internet, being treated like I’m a long term member of the community
Things I don’t miss: “first past the post” induced party politics and American mainstream media, flatness, humid heat, uncritical use of the concept of patriotism, requiring a car to do day to day activities, ticks
Things I will miss: the hills of Dunedin especially as viewed from the top of the hill in the Botanic Garden and knowing that I could literally walk out of town and be on top of a huge ridge with views of the mountains and oceans simultaneously, walking to the Octagon, tree ferns, the southern cross and galaxies, cricket as a legitimate sport, young, dynamic, and easily accessible geologic outcrops, having a detailed knowledge of the environmental framework of the country I’m living in (going to have to work on fixing that), NZ currency (it might look like play money but its sooo pretty), recognition and incorporation of Maori vocabulary/concepts at a national level, clocktower and Leith, the ocean (surf, jellyfish, crazy seaweed, vastness), tussock, accidentally scaring up kerukeru (NZ wood pigeon), funny sounding tui, rata trees in bloom,
Things I won’t miss: possums, people going barefoot (or even with crappy jandels) in glass strewn streets, no turn on left
Things I miss: family/friends, snow, insulation/double paned windows, being warm when its winter, thunderstorms, squirrels, loons, frogs, MN vegetation in general (maple, oak, pine), piano!!!, people with which to sing, reliable internet, being treated like I’m a long term member of the community
Things I don’t miss: “first past the post” induced party politics and American mainstream media, flatness, humid heat, uncritical use of the concept of patriotism, requiring a car to do day to day activities, ticks
Things I will miss: the hills of Dunedin especially as viewed from the top of the hill in the Botanic Garden and knowing that I could literally walk out of town and be on top of a huge ridge with views of the mountains and oceans simultaneously, walking to the Octagon, tree ferns, the southern cross and galaxies, cricket as a legitimate sport, young, dynamic, and easily accessible geologic outcrops, having a detailed knowledge of the environmental framework of the country I’m living in (going to have to work on fixing that), NZ currency (it might look like play money but its sooo pretty), recognition and incorporation of Maori vocabulary/concepts at a national level, clocktower and Leith, the ocean (surf, jellyfish, crazy seaweed, vastness), tussock, accidentally scaring up kerukeru (NZ wood pigeon), funny sounding tui, rata trees in bloom,
Things I won’t miss: possums, people going barefoot (or even with crappy jandels) in glass strewn streets, no turn on left
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Qualitative Report on Experiences of First Semester 2010 at Otago Uni (aka: oh goodness me, only one month left!)
Just when (okay, okay probably several months after) you reckoned I had given up on this blog....
I. Introduction:
In just over a month I will be flying back to Minnesota.!? 2 weeks of class, 3 weeks of exams left?!. The deciduous trees around Dunedin are turning colours and, though I know it is not going to ever truly seem like winter to me (needs snow or at least dead grass), there is definitely chill in the air. For instance, I currently have several sweaters on and, perhaps more pathetically, am at my desk inside my sleep bag.
II. Methods: Though two of my classes are supposed to be equal portions human and physical topics, the heavy workload of my geology paper has made this semester feel very scientifically oriented (hence the necessity of the structure of this post and the hierarchal labelling below). But because my soul dies a little each time I am asked to write in passive voice, I chose to ignore the traditional “objective” science writing style. This post explores the question of what have I been up to this past (southern hemisphere) academic semester.
III. Results:
i. Classes:
a. Plants, People and the Environment: As you might guess from the title, the paper is pretty heavy into botany. Historical biogeography (working out disruptions (human, glaciations, etc) to the environment based on the distribution and physical characteristics of the plants currently growing there) is sweet and the coursework different from what I am used to – I have sprouts in my window sill and every week get to wander around in the gardens for three hours comparing species.
b. Developments in Environmental Management: A small class by Otago standards with around 20 students. Great, wonderful and every other word indicating happiness. The “heavy” reading load is not onerous by Morris standards with emphasis on deconstruction of knowledge about environmental issues and critiquing different management strategies. Also there are lots of discussions with fellow students (who are mostly postgrads with development/planning experience) about issues close to their hearts such as intensification of dairy farming and the seawall at St. Clair’s beach.
c. Resource Planning and Management – the undergraduate equivalent of the one above. In some ways repetitive of things I studied in environmental politics last semester or just have picked up on having spent four years at a college which prides itself on its environmental consciousness. But I am more and more sure it is what I want to do with my life – distributive justice of resource allocation, recognizing how the different scales at which international banks vs NGOs vs local people interact with their environment and can contribute to best practice management. I am currently writing a paper on Australian coastal management – a bit of a laugh seeing as I could count the number of times I had been to the ocean before coming to NZ on one hand.
d. NZ Field Studies: GeoloGY! (with the appropriate arm gesture) More significantly: field work! Something I have wanted to do since getting pulled toward the subject three years ago. The class was huge (about 80 people) which made every assignment and trip a logistical nightmare. We had our first field camp in Maerewhenua Valley in Central Otago the week before official classes started. It was a very intense week trying to find (make accurate enough observations) of contacts in order to map the rock units, followed by another very intense week trying to finish a map/report of the area while getting other classes sorted out. Our second major project was centred at Borland (Fiordland NP). It was far less intense although twice as much report and featured an overturned syncline, grain flow conglomerates, and sooo many turbidites. Sadly the day I most cared about and my last day in the field (we were looking at crazy cross-cutting relationships of the igneous and metamorphic basement rocks), there was heavy rainfall so we only half heartedly were allowed to do the exercises. We had a lab final for the class a few weeks ago and the class is now over. :-(
ii. Flat Life:
Despite positive impressions in my February post, some of my flatmates definitely did not end up getting along nicely. Alistair was not comfortable with large groups of people in the flat (and decided to outright disrespect American geology students) which clashed with Paul and Liz’s (reasonable) desire to spontaneously have people over, mostly American geology students. This root problem spread negativity to every other activity in the flat. I missed most of the sparring because I would be the university library until after people had gone to bed and then wake up to the sound of slamming doors. It reached the ridiculous point of having professional mediation! Alistair has subsequently moved out.
iii. Random Adventures:
a. stubborn cow in the road on the road to “Paradise” (the name of an actual town)
Fig. 1 Cow
b. midsemester break trip to Green Lake Hut found out my knee is messed up and that I probably shouldn’t go on anymore long tramping trips
Fig. 2 Green Lake Hut
c. Anzac Day activities – dawn service, poppies, anzac cookies, the Settlement Museum display on Dunedin soldiers
d. Dushan (demonstrator for my field studies class)’s optional geology trip up the West Coast to the tippy top of the South Island
Fig. 3 Sunset on the West Coast
e. watching drunk kiwi geologist try to take the strike and dip of a teeter totter during the "geology race"
f. Epic game of table tennis (ping pong) in Big Hut (Rock and Pillar Range)
Fig. 4 Inside Big Hut
g. fire dancing with poi and staffs on a clear night at the monument on top of signal hill
IV. Conclusions: I poked a jellyfish and miss squirrels.
I. Introduction:
In just over a month I will be flying back to Minnesota.!? 2 weeks of class, 3 weeks of exams left?!. The deciduous trees around Dunedin are turning colours and, though I know it is not going to ever truly seem like winter to me (needs snow or at least dead grass), there is definitely chill in the air. For instance, I currently have several sweaters on and, perhaps more pathetically, am at my desk inside my sleep bag.
II. Methods: Though two of my classes are supposed to be equal portions human and physical topics, the heavy workload of my geology paper has made this semester feel very scientifically oriented (hence the necessity of the structure of this post and the hierarchal labelling below). But because my soul dies a little each time I am asked to write in passive voice, I chose to ignore the traditional “objective” science writing style. This post explores the question of what have I been up to this past (southern hemisphere) academic semester.
III. Results:
i. Classes:
a. Plants, People and the Environment: As you might guess from the title, the paper is pretty heavy into botany. Historical biogeography (working out disruptions (human, glaciations, etc) to the environment based on the distribution and physical characteristics of the plants currently growing there) is sweet and the coursework different from what I am used to – I have sprouts in my window sill and every week get to wander around in the gardens for three hours comparing species.
b. Developments in Environmental Management: A small class by Otago standards with around 20 students. Great, wonderful and every other word indicating happiness. The “heavy” reading load is not onerous by Morris standards with emphasis on deconstruction of knowledge about environmental issues and critiquing different management strategies. Also there are lots of discussions with fellow students (who are mostly postgrads with development/planning experience) about issues close to their hearts such as intensification of dairy farming and the seawall at St. Clair’s beach.
c. Resource Planning and Management – the undergraduate equivalent of the one above. In some ways repetitive of things I studied in environmental politics last semester or just have picked up on having spent four years at a college which prides itself on its environmental consciousness. But I am more and more sure it is what I want to do with my life – distributive justice of resource allocation, recognizing how the different scales at which international banks vs NGOs vs local people interact with their environment and can contribute to best practice management. I am currently writing a paper on Australian coastal management – a bit of a laugh seeing as I could count the number of times I had been to the ocean before coming to NZ on one hand.
d. NZ Field Studies: GeoloGY! (with the appropriate arm gesture) More significantly: field work! Something I have wanted to do since getting pulled toward the subject three years ago. The class was huge (about 80 people) which made every assignment and trip a logistical nightmare. We had our first field camp in Maerewhenua Valley in Central Otago the week before official classes started. It was a very intense week trying to find (make accurate enough observations) of contacts in order to map the rock units, followed by another very intense week trying to finish a map/report of the area while getting other classes sorted out. Our second major project was centred at Borland (Fiordland NP). It was far less intense although twice as much report and featured an overturned syncline, grain flow conglomerates, and sooo many turbidites. Sadly the day I most cared about and my last day in the field (we were looking at crazy cross-cutting relationships of the igneous and metamorphic basement rocks), there was heavy rainfall so we only half heartedly were allowed to do the exercises. We had a lab final for the class a few weeks ago and the class is now over. :-(
ii. Flat Life:
Despite positive impressions in my February post, some of my flatmates definitely did not end up getting along nicely. Alistair was not comfortable with large groups of people in the flat (and decided to outright disrespect American geology students) which clashed with Paul and Liz’s (reasonable) desire to spontaneously have people over, mostly American geology students. This root problem spread negativity to every other activity in the flat. I missed most of the sparring because I would be the university library until after people had gone to bed and then wake up to the sound of slamming doors. It reached the ridiculous point of having professional mediation! Alistair has subsequently moved out.
iii. Random Adventures:
a. stubborn cow in the road on the road to “Paradise” (the name of an actual town)
Fig. 1 Cow
b. midsemester break trip to Green Lake Hut found out my knee is messed up and that I probably shouldn’t go on anymore long tramping trips
Fig. 2 Green Lake Hut
c. Anzac Day activities – dawn service, poppies, anzac cookies, the Settlement Museum display on Dunedin soldiers
d. Dushan (demonstrator for my field studies class)’s optional geology trip up the West Coast to the tippy top of the South Island
Fig. 3 Sunset on the West Coast
e. watching drunk kiwi geologist try to take the strike and dip of a teeter totter during the "geology race"
f. Epic game of table tennis (ping pong) in Big Hut (Rock and Pillar Range)
Fig. 4 Inside Big Hut
g. fire dancing with poi and staffs on a clear night at the monument on top of signal hill
IV. Conclusions: I poked a jellyfish and miss squirrels.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Comedy and Tragedy of the Commons
Comic swiped from the lecture slides of one of my geography classes today:
If you know anything about the "Tragedy of the Commons" model of behavior, I suspect you are already laughing.
If you don't:
The "Tragedy of the Commons" theory was proposed by Garrett Hardin (1968). According to it, in cases where multiple individuals use the same communal resource base (shepherds grazing sheep in a pasture), the tendency will be toward degradation of the resource. This is because the benefit to each individual of using more than his or her fair share (aka putting an extra sheep in the pasture to graze) is greater than the cost to him or her (which is spread amongst all of the resource users). If all users act in this way, the pasture will soon be overrun with sheep to the downfall of all. Following this to its logical end, an outside entity is needed in order to regulate the selfish behavior of the resource users.
A dominant critique of this, however, is that it doesn't account for the social relations between users. It suggests that they are incapable of talking to each other and generating their own locally agreed upon resource management solutions.
Now read the comic again. :D
If you know anything about the "Tragedy of the Commons" model of behavior, I suspect you are already laughing.
If you don't:
The "Tragedy of the Commons" theory was proposed by Garrett Hardin (1968). According to it, in cases where multiple individuals use the same communal resource base (shepherds grazing sheep in a pasture), the tendency will be toward degradation of the resource. This is because the benefit to each individual of using more than his or her fair share (aka putting an extra sheep in the pasture to graze) is greater than the cost to him or her (which is spread amongst all of the resource users). If all users act in this way, the pasture will soon be overrun with sheep to the downfall of all. Following this to its logical end, an outside entity is needed in order to regulate the selfish behavior of the resource users.
A dominant critique of this, however, is that it doesn't account for the social relations between users. It suggests that they are incapable of talking to each other and generating their own locally agreed upon resource management solutions.
Now read the comic again. :D
Monday, February 22, 2010
Feeling Lucky
Wow. Its been a while since I wrote anything here and has reached a stage at which so much has happened and changed it is now difficult to come up with what to put. I have spent the summer holiday traveling around New Zealand – on my own for the first month and a half, then with visiting family (hooray!) Uni will be starting up again soon – class officially starts in just over a week but I will be doing field work for my geology paper starting Tuesday. (Oh goodness me I am excited!!)
All of my flatmates have moved in and signs point to us getting along nicely. Paul and Liz are geology students from small universities in the United States (St. Lawrence and Whitman respectively). Alistair, from Auckland, studies accounting (and surveying?). More pertinently, Liz knows how to break apples apart without a knife, Paul is talented at driving vehicles in narrow places, and Alistair worked this past summer on a tourist boat to Antarctica (has many pictures of poo covered penguins and ice shelves) He will also happily kick hedgehogs out of our green space. Literally kick them. I almost want the cute bugger to come back so I can try my hand....er..foot at it. This is Alistair’s first stint for uni flats (international student flats managed by the university which provides furniture, appliances, cutlery etc) so we have all of the things which he furnished his flat with last year. In other words, we have the most well equipped kitchen in the whole city! :-) My flatmates are similarly bewildered by the drinking culture at Otago (extremely loud music, broken glasses, and getting shit-faced as fast and as raucously as you can) – just doesn’t seem fun. Our flat is unlikely to ever be the source of drunken mayhem and, as far as I can tell, there is only one party house between me and campus. Hooray!
I need to sort out a whole summers worth of experiences and do some serious reflecting but for now I will just wax poetic about the benefits of liberal arts education. Turns out (unsurprisingly) I am very, very much a fan. In walking the lines between disciplines, you don’t feel as trapped in the structures of knowledge constructed by academia. You may get to the end of your educational journey with less practical skills in your given field but you have a better appreciation for the complexity of the world around you. I have discovered a serious discontinuity between what I expect to get from being at university and what my kiwi friends expect. The bottom line: the NZ academic system does not seem to understand the logic behind liberal arts. I was trying to find a paper (class) to replace something which had been shifted to second semester and needed to have one of the actual instructors sign off because I hadn’t taken the prerequisite. After asking me some questions, he decided that I should be doing a one-year post-graduate diploma, looked up the details and started reading me the requirements. “Is there any coherence to the courses you’ve taken?” well....yes.... sort of but definitely not institutionally. He commented that I would need to have completed my bachelors degree but I had explained to him that I was essentially done with mine. When I told him that graduating would invalidate my scholarship, he just sort of looked at me in puzzlement: what an odd restriction! who would ever create such a scholarship? Thank you Katherine E. Sullivan! Thank you Sullivan scholarship committee! It is such a mindboggling privilege to be here feeling out of place.
All of my flatmates have moved in and signs point to us getting along nicely. Paul and Liz are geology students from small universities in the United States (St. Lawrence and Whitman respectively). Alistair, from Auckland, studies accounting (and surveying?). More pertinently, Liz knows how to break apples apart without a knife, Paul is talented at driving vehicles in narrow places, and Alistair worked this past summer on a tourist boat to Antarctica (has many pictures of poo covered penguins and ice shelves) He will also happily kick hedgehogs out of our green space. Literally kick them. I almost want the cute bugger to come back so I can try my hand....er..foot at it. This is Alistair’s first stint for uni flats (international student flats managed by the university which provides furniture, appliances, cutlery etc) so we have all of the things which he furnished his flat with last year. In other words, we have the most well equipped kitchen in the whole city! :-) My flatmates are similarly bewildered by the drinking culture at Otago (extremely loud music, broken glasses, and getting shit-faced as fast and as raucously as you can) – just doesn’t seem fun. Our flat is unlikely to ever be the source of drunken mayhem and, as far as I can tell, there is only one party house between me and campus. Hooray!
I need to sort out a whole summers worth of experiences and do some serious reflecting but for now I will just wax poetic about the benefits of liberal arts education. Turns out (unsurprisingly) I am very, very much a fan. In walking the lines between disciplines, you don’t feel as trapped in the structures of knowledge constructed by academia. You may get to the end of your educational journey with less practical skills in your given field but you have a better appreciation for the complexity of the world around you. I have discovered a serious discontinuity between what I expect to get from being at university and what my kiwi friends expect. The bottom line: the NZ academic system does not seem to understand the logic behind liberal arts. I was trying to find a paper (class) to replace something which had been shifted to second semester and needed to have one of the actual instructors sign off because I hadn’t taken the prerequisite. After asking me some questions, he decided that I should be doing a one-year post-graduate diploma, looked up the details and started reading me the requirements. “Is there any coherence to the courses you’ve taken?” well....yes.... sort of but definitely not institutionally. He commented that I would need to have completed my bachelors degree but I had explained to him that I was essentially done with mine. When I told him that graduating would invalidate my scholarship, he just sort of looked at me in puzzlement: what an odd restriction! who would ever create such a scholarship? Thank you Katherine E. Sullivan! Thank you Sullivan scholarship committee! It is such a mindboggling privilege to be here feeling out of place.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Recap
I have been travelling solo for nearly a month now (apologies for being too distracted to keep the blog up to date) I have met a huge range of amazing people, witnessed incredible geology, got myself into and out of some very dodgy situations, and learned a hell of a lot about myself. Travelling on your own encourages you to strike up conversations with random people, pick up hitchhikers, and be extra conscious of your tiny, precarious existence
Some memorable happenings (both highlights and low points):
1. tea and conversation with the one legged man making moonshine in his rundown trailer (and his appearance seemingly out of nowhere on the dark and incredibly foggy night prior)
2. staying up until two in the morning listening to/playing music at Chillawhile Backpackers after being severely music starved during the semester. Dear Elliot Smith – how had I never heard your music before?? Rest in Peace. Also waiting an hour for this music video to load.
3. three days of good weather at Aoraki/Mt. Cook giving me a chance to tramp around near the three main glaciers (Hooker, Mueller, and Tasman) of the associated national park
4. repeatedly running into two Israeli boys I met at the first hut on my first backpacking trip (4 times now and counting!)
5 hours without seeing anyone in a valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains on the Greenstone Track (even if it was a bit rainy)
6 hours above the bushline on the Kepler Track
7 drunken fisherman showing up late in the evening on the Manapouri track forcing me and another tramper to change back into soaking wet clothes and hike another hour in pouring rain (to reach a tiny hut with a resident mouse which chewed into garbage and food during the night despite our best effort to hang the packs)
8. trading keys with the large animal lab technicians from Massey Uni at Woolshed Creek Hut. Allowed me to see the crazy extrusive rocks on the north face and them to avoid a rough eight hours on the windy south face
9. camping in Ruataniwha Conservation Area best equipped free campground ever!! (first encounter with anti-DoC graffiti as well – very interesting....)
....170 Little Blue Penguins coming in from the ocean at dusk and making a racket as they hung out around their burrows
__________________________________________________________
Today I moved to a new flat! Any letters sent to me by post should now be addressed to:
4/174 Forth St.
Dunedin, New Zealand 9016
It is a smaller place, fitting four flatmates as opposed to six. The complex features several cats which seem to expect to be let inside. I have a ground floor room but I think the view is still better than at my old flat. I am looking out at the edge of the botanic gardens and a clothesline as opposed to a birds-eye view of pavement and a bunch of other apartments. I have a nice big desk, a bookshelf, and an enormous closet. There is a cosy common area with a big sliding glass door, blankets and cooking spices left by previous residents, and one of the oldest televisions I have ever seen (only picks up one of NZ’s six TV stations ^_^).
Tomorrow Stephanie arrives!
Farewell to an especially eventful 2009 and wishing you a very happy new year!
Some memorable happenings (both highlights and low points):
1. tea and conversation with the one legged man making moonshine in his rundown trailer (and his appearance seemingly out of nowhere on the dark and incredibly foggy night prior)
2. staying up until two in the morning listening to/playing music at Chillawhile Backpackers after being severely music starved during the semester. Dear Elliot Smith – how had I never heard your music before?? Rest in Peace. Also waiting an hour for this music video to load.
3. three days of good weather at Aoraki/Mt. Cook giving me a chance to tramp around near the three main glaciers (Hooker, Mueller, and Tasman) of the associated national park
4. repeatedly running into two Israeli boys I met at the first hut on my first backpacking trip (4 times now and counting!)
5 hours without seeing anyone in a valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains on the Greenstone Track (even if it was a bit rainy)
6 hours above the bushline on the Kepler Track
7 drunken fisherman showing up late in the evening on the Manapouri track forcing me and another tramper to change back into soaking wet clothes and hike another hour in pouring rain (to reach a tiny hut with a resident mouse which chewed into garbage and food during the night despite our best effort to hang the packs)
8. trading keys with the large animal lab technicians from Massey Uni at Woolshed Creek Hut. Allowed me to see the crazy extrusive rocks on the north face and them to avoid a rough eight hours on the windy south face
9. camping in Ruataniwha Conservation Area best equipped free campground ever!! (first encounter with anti-DoC graffiti as well – very interesting....)
....170 Little Blue Penguins coming in from the ocean at dusk and making a racket as they hung out around their burrows
__________________________________________________________
Today I moved to a new flat! Any letters sent to me by post should now be addressed to:
4/174 Forth St.
Dunedin, New Zealand 9016
It is a smaller place, fitting four flatmates as opposed to six. The complex features several cats which seem to expect to be let inside. I have a ground floor room but I think the view is still better than at my old flat. I am looking out at the edge of the botanic gardens and a clothesline as opposed to a birds-eye view of pavement and a bunch of other apartments. I have a nice big desk, a bookshelf, and an enormous closet. There is a cosy common area with a big sliding glass door, blankets and cooking spices left by previous residents, and one of the oldest televisions I have ever seen (only picks up one of NZ’s six TV stations ^_^).
Tomorrow Stephanie arrives!
Farewell to an especially eventful 2009 and wishing you a very happy new year!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
End of semester
Posing in front of the Otago sign, with the departure of flatmates to go back to their home countries or travel around New Zealand imminent.
from the left: Jason, Dave, Anna, Me, Ditte, and Kyle
The semester has ended following a very long exam period. (so long that I went on a six day trip to Stewart Island in between finals).
I am going to the Fjordlands. Potentially for several weeks.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
“Clean, Green” New Zealand?
One of my major interests in coming to New Zealand was to compare environmental policies and attitudes to that of the United States. It would be misleading, given my limited experiences to extrapolate and speak for the sentiments of the New Zealand public. I live in a complex of predominantly international students and it has been difficult to make strong connections outside of this network – most of the ways I’ve found to engage in environmental issues involve attending events which naturally attract those concerned with the environment. There is a strong dichotomy between the way environmental issues are treated at my flat (I’m not sure half of my flatmates understand what recycling is/make no effort to do so – our recycling bin is continually stolen so it’s difficult to blame them) and the opinions of people in my environmental politics class, in the tramping club, and attending environmentally focused lectures and debates. That being said, I feel like three and a half months should be enough time to make some general comments.
In large part, NZ is “clean” and “green” because of its low population density rather than any sort of purposeful planning or good regulatory controls. In fact, based on a study done by the OECD, New Zealand has some of the least “red tape” for businesses to get through of any developed country. The Resource Management Act (RMA) stands as the dominant form of environmental legislation. It dictates the resource consent process and the relationship between district, regional and national government. It advocates “sustainable management” but leaves what this actually means open to interpretation and so far the government hasn’t provided many standards or policy statements to clarify. The act is also very much effects-based; as long as a potential resource user can demonstrate that a proposed project has only minor impacts on the environment or that the effects will be mitigated, the consent will likely be approved. Because of this, the act is poor at dealing with the cumulative resource requests in an area and privileges present users over potential future uses for the resources.
That being said, some positives:
- environmental issues seem to get a more central place in political campaigns.
- more public concern and involvement (this one is the most likely to be affected by being encompassed by a university) Ex. there is little question of whether or not climate change is happening and strong support for the NZ government to step up its pledge to lower emissions. (The only person I have seen to question its existence was a professor attacking the validity and universal application of scientific knowledge and the people around me were getting pretty angry…) There has similarly been strong backlash against the current proposals to open conservation land (national parks and reserves) to mining.
- pay as you go rubbish collection – In Dunedin, the waste disposal services will only collect one type of trash bag approved by the city council. They are very expensive and are meant to be an incentive for people to recycle more (free service) and limit their waste.
- paying for plastic bags – this has been implemented by some stores. New World, the grocery store I frequent, put a policy in place momentarily where customers had to pay 5 cents per bag, but have unfortunately since rescinded it to prevent losing business. :(
Through my environmental politics class and other lectures around campus I have managed to hear 4 of the 9 NZ Green Party MPs. Jeanette Fitzsimmons spoke regarding the Emission Trading Scheme currently being proposed by National (equivalent to Republican party – they are currently in control of parliament) She argued that it would not be effective at reducing overall emissions to meet the Kyoto target and instead detailed the Green Party suggestions for reducing carbon. I also heard Sue Bradford speak about grassroots activism and the role of democratic practices in proper operation of a green party and the two co-leaders, Metiria Turei and Russel Norman, describing the NZ green party’s basic campaign platform and strategies.
This last speech was especially great because one of Norman’s specific interests was in water resource distribution. Someone asked him a question about current proposals to change allocation in the Canterbury region and, though he was clearly trying to keep his comments brief, it wasn’t long before he was filling the board with diagrams. He declared freshwater and water quality to be “New Zealand’s greatest environmental issue.” Not something I would have expected.
Experiencing Kiwis perception of what constitutes a healthy environment and sound policy gives perspective – from tramping club members bemoaning increasingly not being able to drink straight out of streams to outrage at the idea of using aquifer water (unsustainable) it is a very different baseline from which to measure environmental degradation. As another example, landscape has a completely different value here. In Environmental Politics, part of our assessment was based on presentations about recent, local resource conflicts. It turns out there is a surprising amount of antipathy toward proposed wind farms in Otago amongst the student presenters as well as in public response to the proposals. For the last four years I have been surrounded by people who are very optimistic about wind as an alternative energy and have scoffed at those who were opposed to them for aesthetic reasons as being unrealistic about our energy options (NIMBY – not in my backyard). I haven’t changed my stance but certainly putting wind turbines on the top of a ridge in a rural area of Otago means something very different to people than putting them in a field in rural Minnesota.
Some other issues:
The country champions biodiversity and has some amazingly cool endemic species including the only mountain parrot in the world, a variety of rare penguins and amusingly thick worms. But with 40 million sheep, hillsides covered in gorse, and 60 million possums (aka “little speed bumps”) it is hardly an ecological paradise. (Currently there are some pretty hefty debates regarding how to get rid of the possums. The Department of Conservation (DOC) is engaged in systematic poisoning with a chemical called 1080 but recent evidence has emerged showing that it has negative effects on humans.)
Insulation!!! – buildings in Dunedin and especially in the “student ghetto” are old and poorly designed to deal with cold South Island winters. Most houses are poorly insulated and lack double-paned windows. While winters are not nearly as bad as in MN, so much energy could be saved (and comfort provided) if the heat didn’t immediately go through the wall. They are currently working to address the problem – the government is subsidizing installation of insulation - but it will be probably a decade before all of the people on the waiting list can be processed.
All cars in NZ are imported. When a car enters the country, it will likely remain in use for twenty years. Because of this the market does not work efficiently to encourage fuel economy because, even when the price of petrol rises, it is being consumed by a fleet operating on decades old fuel conditions. Currently NZ does not have fuel economy standards for incoming cars – it needs them.
In large part, NZ is “clean” and “green” because of its low population density rather than any sort of purposeful planning or good regulatory controls. In fact, based on a study done by the OECD, New Zealand has some of the least “red tape” for businesses to get through of any developed country. The Resource Management Act (RMA) stands as the dominant form of environmental legislation. It dictates the resource consent process and the relationship between district, regional and national government. It advocates “sustainable management” but leaves what this actually means open to interpretation and so far the government hasn’t provided many standards or policy statements to clarify. The act is also very much effects-based; as long as a potential resource user can demonstrate that a proposed project has only minor impacts on the environment or that the effects will be mitigated, the consent will likely be approved. Because of this, the act is poor at dealing with the cumulative resource requests in an area and privileges present users over potential future uses for the resources.
That being said, some positives:
- environmental issues seem to get a more central place in political campaigns.
- more public concern and involvement (this one is the most likely to be affected by being encompassed by a university) Ex. there is little question of whether or not climate change is happening and strong support for the NZ government to step up its pledge to lower emissions. (The only person I have seen to question its existence was a professor attacking the validity and universal application of scientific knowledge and the people around me were getting pretty angry…) There has similarly been strong backlash against the current proposals to open conservation land (national parks and reserves) to mining.
- pay as you go rubbish collection – In Dunedin, the waste disposal services will only collect one type of trash bag approved by the city council. They are very expensive and are meant to be an incentive for people to recycle more (free service) and limit their waste.
- paying for plastic bags – this has been implemented by some stores. New World, the grocery store I frequent, put a policy in place momentarily where customers had to pay 5 cents per bag, but have unfortunately since rescinded it to prevent losing business. :(
Through my environmental politics class and other lectures around campus I have managed to hear 4 of the 9 NZ Green Party MPs. Jeanette Fitzsimmons spoke regarding the Emission Trading Scheme currently being proposed by National (equivalent to Republican party – they are currently in control of parliament) She argued that it would not be effective at reducing overall emissions to meet the Kyoto target and instead detailed the Green Party suggestions for reducing carbon. I also heard Sue Bradford speak about grassroots activism and the role of democratic practices in proper operation of a green party and the two co-leaders, Metiria Turei and Russel Norman, describing the NZ green party’s basic campaign platform and strategies.
This last speech was especially great because one of Norman’s specific interests was in water resource distribution. Someone asked him a question about current proposals to change allocation in the Canterbury region and, though he was clearly trying to keep his comments brief, it wasn’t long before he was filling the board with diagrams. He declared freshwater and water quality to be “New Zealand’s greatest environmental issue.” Not something I would have expected.
Experiencing Kiwis perception of what constitutes a healthy environment and sound policy gives perspective – from tramping club members bemoaning increasingly not being able to drink straight out of streams to outrage at the idea of using aquifer water (unsustainable) it is a very different baseline from which to measure environmental degradation. As another example, landscape has a completely different value here. In Environmental Politics, part of our assessment was based on presentations about recent, local resource conflicts. It turns out there is a surprising amount of antipathy toward proposed wind farms in Otago amongst the student presenters as well as in public response to the proposals. For the last four years I have been surrounded by people who are very optimistic about wind as an alternative energy and have scoffed at those who were opposed to them for aesthetic reasons as being unrealistic about our energy options (NIMBY – not in my backyard). I haven’t changed my stance but certainly putting wind turbines on the top of a ridge in a rural area of Otago means something very different to people than putting them in a field in rural Minnesota.
Some other issues:
The country champions biodiversity and has some amazingly cool endemic species including the only mountain parrot in the world, a variety of rare penguins and amusingly thick worms. But with 40 million sheep, hillsides covered in gorse, and 60 million possums (aka “little speed bumps”) it is hardly an ecological paradise. (Currently there are some pretty hefty debates regarding how to get rid of the possums. The Department of Conservation (DOC) is engaged in systematic poisoning with a chemical called 1080 but recent evidence has emerged showing that it has negative effects on humans.)
Insulation!!! – buildings in Dunedin and especially in the “student ghetto” are old and poorly designed to deal with cold South Island winters. Most houses are poorly insulated and lack double-paned windows. While winters are not nearly as bad as in MN, so much energy could be saved (and comfort provided) if the heat didn’t immediately go through the wall. They are currently working to address the problem – the government is subsidizing installation of insulation - but it will be probably a decade before all of the people on the waiting list can be processed.
All cars in NZ are imported. When a car enters the country, it will likely remain in use for twenty years. Because of this the market does not work efficiently to encourage fuel economy because, even when the price of petrol rises, it is being consumed by a fleet operating on decades old fuel conditions. Currently NZ does not have fuel economy standards for incoming cars – it needs them.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Puspawarna Gamelan!
Yesterday was the final performance of the community gamelan group I have been playing with for the past semester.
The pelog (7-note scale) instruments of our set in place at the Temple Gallery. About to start rehearsing.
It was a rather eclectic concert. The night was opened by an early music group playing pre-opera music from the 1600s on lute, viol de gamba, regular viol, and flute. This was followed by a soloist on Tibetan flute and then us. We played a few traditional pieces, but the main purpose of the concert was to premiere works written by people in the ensemble. One was written in traditional style by Ali, a fourth year honours student. Another was by a composition lecturer and featured a western structure, progression of changing melodies, and had parts for individual instruments written out.
"Frogs" by the artistic director of the group, Joko Susilo called for a string section (cello, violin, and bass) as well as "special effects" of croaking frogs with wooden percussion instruments and gongs placed on the ground.
The string section setting up.
Good old Saron II. Because Puspawarna Gamelan is a community ensemble with members coming and going depending on the rehearsal I've been shifted around to play several different instruments but this saron is the one I know best and the one I was lucky enough to play at this show.
Playing gamelan has been an amazing musical experience. This semester has made me conscious of how strongly dependent on western structural forms and notation I am when understanding music. Unlike an orchestra for example, where though the instruments are played together, the melody and temporary importance is passed between instruments and sections, in gamelan, it is hard to distinguish any particular instrument from the sound as a whole. Everyone is playing the melody or a variation upon it at all times - there are no diva parts. In addition, much time (and frustration) would be spent trying to figure out how many times Joko expected us to repeat a particular section; it was normal to spend ten minutes trying to get him to explicitly tell us the order so we could write it down and then having him cue something different the very next time we played it. Traditionally though, gamelan isn't supposed to be fixed in writing but rather changes based on the whim of the drummer and what he signals.
Also: Community! I am not sure what exactly it is...something about the instrumentation of the songs themselves, the large number of birthdays falling on rehearsal days (celebrated with food and the obligatory attempt to play "Happy Birthday" on gamelan which doesn't work very well because the scales lack the necessary notes), Joko's insistence on giving rides home after rehearsal, or (most likely) the ridiculous amounts of time and effort spent moving the heavy bronze instruments every time we have a concert...but at the after party it struck me how much the gamelan group felt like whanau (family). Music groups often inspire this sort of bond, I have just never felt it so quickly.
The concert was recorded so hopefully I will be able to acquire a copy and post a song or two here.
Gamelan practice room with just the slendro scale instruments. Ali resting while waiting for the truck to arrive with the instruments we brought to the concert.
"Ayun Ayun" written on a board in the practice room. Notably the form at the bottom(AA-AA-BA) is not what we played at the concert. ^_^
The pelog (7-note scale) instruments of our set in place at the Temple Gallery. About to start rehearsing.
It was a rather eclectic concert. The night was opened by an early music group playing pre-opera music from the 1600s on lute, viol de gamba, regular viol, and flute. This was followed by a soloist on Tibetan flute and then us. We played a few traditional pieces, but the main purpose of the concert was to premiere works written by people in the ensemble. One was written in traditional style by Ali, a fourth year honours student. Another was by a composition lecturer and featured a western structure, progression of changing melodies, and had parts for individual instruments written out.
"Frogs" by the artistic director of the group, Joko Susilo called for a string section (cello, violin, and bass) as well as "special effects" of croaking frogs with wooden percussion instruments and gongs placed on the ground.
The string section setting up.
Good old Saron II. Because Puspawarna Gamelan is a community ensemble with members coming and going depending on the rehearsal I've been shifted around to play several different instruments but this saron is the one I know best and the one I was lucky enough to play at this show.
Playing gamelan has been an amazing musical experience. This semester has made me conscious of how strongly dependent on western structural forms and notation I am when understanding music. Unlike an orchestra for example, where though the instruments are played together, the melody and temporary importance is passed between instruments and sections, in gamelan, it is hard to distinguish any particular instrument from the sound as a whole. Everyone is playing the melody or a variation upon it at all times - there are no diva parts. In addition, much time (and frustration) would be spent trying to figure out how many times Joko expected us to repeat a particular section; it was normal to spend ten minutes trying to get him to explicitly tell us the order so we could write it down and then having him cue something different the very next time we played it. Traditionally though, gamelan isn't supposed to be fixed in writing but rather changes based on the whim of the drummer and what he signals.
Also: Community! I am not sure what exactly it is...something about the instrumentation of the songs themselves, the large number of birthdays falling on rehearsal days (celebrated with food and the obligatory attempt to play "Happy Birthday" on gamelan which doesn't work very well because the scales lack the necessary notes), Joko's insistence on giving rides home after rehearsal, or (most likely) the ridiculous amounts of time and effort spent moving the heavy bronze instruments every time we have a concert...but at the after party it struck me how much the gamelan group felt like whanau (family). Music groups often inspire this sort of bond, I have just never felt it so quickly.
The concert was recorded so hopefully I will be able to acquire a copy and post a song or two here.
Gamelan practice room with just the slendro scale instruments. Ali resting while waiting for the truck to arrive with the instruments we brought to the concert.
"Ayun Ayun" written on a board in the practice room. Notably the form at the bottom(AA-AA-BA) is not what we played at the concert. ^_^
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Conservation Weekend!!
As per my standard way of blogging this is rather out of date:
I went with eight other Australearn students to Papatowei for a weekend to volunteer at a couple of reserves. We stayed with an adorable older couple who were decades-long caretakers of the Te Rere reserve, a privately managed habitat for yellow-eyed penguins. We destroyed a handful of gorse bushes (a species of extremely prickly plants introduced as a way to fence in sheep but spreading to cover entire hillsides), set traps for stoats, and put out poison for possums. Apparently there are over 60 million possums in NZ and they each eat 1 kg of vegetation per day!! During the afternoon, we got up close and personal with flax – uprooting, splitting and then replanting to provide cover for the penguins. Flax is a huge, tough plant and it took the seven of us half an hour to get one out of the ground. We used a grubber to clear the vegetation around the base of the plant. Then we went around with two spades cutting away at the roots and trying to dig it out of the ground. We put a thick rope around the base and five of us pulled while the others continued trying to cut away at the roots. Eventually we got it out with several people pulling directly on the leaves and Sam tackling it from the side. Once it was sufficiently tipped over, we pulled it apart, being careful that each division contained a substantial amount of root. We then had to cut the leaves short so that the plants wouldn’t blow over in the wind with their seriously diminished extent of roots and replanted them.
Flax plant pulled apart with cut leaves strewn everywhere. Non-uprooted flax top right.
Apparently another accepted method for getting flax out of the group is to put explosives at the base and blow it out of the ground (we were shown a photo of this being done :-) ).
It was nearing dusk when we finished, so we gathered our equipment and went out to a point to watch the penguins coming in.
As we walked out of the reserve, you could hear the penguins rustling around in the bush. Earlier in the day, we came across one by accident which had not gone out to the ocean for the day. It let the entire group slowly pass by it before hiding away. We were so close that you could see its yellow eyes and pink feet! Amazing.
That night we went to the neighbor’s (a 93 yr old woman and her cat) to watch the rugby match between the final Tri-Nations game between the All Blacks and Wallabies. They were playing for 2nd and 3rd so it was vital that we win and not get “the wooden spoon.” It was the first rugby match I have been able to watch all the way through made extra great by having people around with a detailed knowledge of the game who were willing to explain what was happening (fouls etc). All Blacks dominated 33 – 6.
It was a perfectly clear night, so after the game I borrowed a stargazing book and stood in the middle of the street. I’m kind of ashamed to admit how long it took to get my bearings. It’s tricky to find the Southern Cross when it isn’t burned into your consciousness, you don’t know which direction is which, and there are incredible numbers of other stars. Eventually I got the book turned the right way….found the Triangulus Australiana (sp?) and looked at the signs of the zodiac upside down. The Milky Way was crazy bright; even after ruining your night vision with a flashlight, you could see it only a few seconds after turning the light off. You can see galaxies (besides the milky way) in the Southern hemisphere!!!
The next day we did some work on an interactive nature trail in the center of town and wandered around on the beach for a few hours. Best weekend ever.
View out of the window from the place we stayed.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Give Way
I am pretty well accustomed to cars driving on the left now but “give way” symbols (the equivalent of a yield sign but used much more prevalently) never cease to unnerve me. I really think the upside down triangle looks like an arrow pointing in the direction you are supposed to go and, when riding in a car, I am always temporarily alarmed that we are going the wrong way down the street.
Insert catchy title here
I am building up thoughts for a reflection on environmental practice and consciousness in NZ (I’m sure you are all on the edge of your seats ^_^ ) but classes have picked up and I have a fresh slew of essays and presentations to complete. So…it probably won’t get done for a couple of weeks. In preview – climate change is recognized as fact (sooo refreshing!) and there is widespread public reaction to things like opening up national parks to mining. On the other hand, government environmental policy is effects-based, short on pollution standards/policy plans, and largely successful thus far because of the high ratio of resources / people. More later….
Other doings:
1. walked into the hills around Dunedin again on a spectacular day. Though I am starting to get normalized to the tremendous scenery around here, I don’t think I will ever get tired of the view from Flagstaff/Swampy/Cargill!! I was hiking by myself and had some interesting times trying to navigate with a topo map that had a severe lack of road names and trailheads that had a severe lack of signage. I think I may have been on a trail that didn’t officially exist for most of the climb up….. Wandered through Ross Creek Reservoir and Woodlaugh Gardens on the way back.
2. discussion about abortion with my flatmate from the Bible Belt and my flatmate from Denmark. And I am amazed once again at how strongly the communities we live in influence what we take to be common sense!
3. avoided the Undie 500 insanity as much as possible. Students from Christchurch pubcrawl to Dunedin in cars costing $500 or less, usually decorated in some fashion. This typically leads to drunken mayhem and, a few years ago, caused a “riot.” (students debate how bad it was) Last year they tried to cancel the event but people came anyway, repeating past behaviors. This year there were calls to have organized activities to control the crowd but the district council instead just put liquor bans on North Dunedin and declared a “no diversion” policy on anyone arrested for disorderly behaviour. And things got out of hand again…as expected. Here's a video. My flat is two streets away, so I got to smell burning sofas and listen to people making a ruckus. I wish the streets between me and uni weren’t littered with glass shards….
4. spent heaps of time contemplating representations of the South Pacific, kaitiakitanga (stewardship), NGOs and international policy making agency
Other doings:
1. walked into the hills around Dunedin again on a spectacular day. Though I am starting to get normalized to the tremendous scenery around here, I don’t think I will ever get tired of the view from Flagstaff/Swampy/Cargill!! I was hiking by myself and had some interesting times trying to navigate with a topo map that had a severe lack of road names and trailheads that had a severe lack of signage. I think I may have been on a trail that didn’t officially exist for most of the climb up….. Wandered through Ross Creek Reservoir and Woodlaugh Gardens on the way back.
2. discussion about abortion with my flatmate from the Bible Belt and my flatmate from Denmark. And I am amazed once again at how strongly the communities we live in influence what we take to be common sense!
3. avoided the Undie 500 insanity as much as possible. Students from Christchurch pubcrawl to Dunedin in cars costing $500 or less, usually decorated in some fashion. This typically leads to drunken mayhem and, a few years ago, caused a “riot.” (students debate how bad it was) Last year they tried to cancel the event but people came anyway, repeating past behaviors. This year there were calls to have organized activities to control the crowd but the district council instead just put liquor bans on North Dunedin and declared a “no diversion” policy on anyone arrested for disorderly behaviour. And things got out of hand again…as expected. Here's a video. My flat is two streets away, so I got to smell burning sofas and listen to people making a ruckus. I wish the streets between me and uni weren’t littered with glass shards….
4. spent heaps of time contemplating representations of the South Pacific, kaitiakitanga (stewardship), NGOs and international policy making agency
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Moon, magnetics, and mayhem
In addition to different constellations being visible in the Southern Hemisphere (the Southern Cross instead of the Big Dipper), the moon looks different from my new position on the sphere that is our planet. Instead of a “man on the moon,” the pattern appears “upside down” and is understood to be in the shape of a rabbit. Also, the phases of the moon move in the opposite direction – the sunlit portion goes from left to right so that the crescent points to the left when waning and to the right when waxing. Craziness!!
Also crazy for anyone who is a fan of maps, orienteering, or the earth’s magnetic field, magnetic declination here is around 21 degrees!!! (so if you calculate it in the wrong direction, you could potentially be turned 42 degrees from the point you are intending to go!!)
Interesting happenings of the past few weeks:
1) worked with eight other people to plant kanuka on the Otago Peninsula. I went with the understanding that we were attempting to bolster dwindling populations of bees but it turned out that was a cover for the real project, providing habitat for a species that is being poached. I got to meet Lala, one of the founding members of STOP (Save the Otago Peninsula) who is involved in tons of conservation groups in Otago. While staking down weed mats, I saw a skink and one of the coolest stick bugs I’ve ever seen.
2) went to a water conservation order hearing for the Nevis river area. It turned out it was the second round of hearings by a special tribunal, such that the read submissions were really nitpicky responses to arguments I hadn’t heard and pretty much everyone there besides me were presenting evidence. I had a cool conversation with the guy next to me (from Otago Fish and Wildlife??) about how the process worked and the hydroelectric plans being considered by the power company.
3) finally went to the archives! (it only took me two months to find it...) Very, very cool place. I looked at a crazy missionary’s autobiography (and an even crazier children's book about the deeds of that missionary), a tourist travel account for the Pacific Islands from the 1900s, an illegible microfilm journal which was supposed to be about recruiting workers from the New Hebrides, and huge stacks of photographs. In addition to material useful for my essay, I found some 100 year old pictures a volcano. :-)
4) played “extreme” croquet. (at night with headlamps and with the weather threatening to turn wet).
(my game face)
5) attended the Dunedin Folk Club. The evening featured a wide variety of styles - starting with wooden flute and bagpipe and ended with a piece for tubular bells, banjo, and sawed cymbals (cymbals played with a bow). For the first half hour I was probably the only person there under forty… it made me miss having instruments to play on. So I went to an informal open mic session in the hopes of temporarily borrowing a guitar. Despite how it was publicized, it turned out being just the regulars of the club sitting around at a table in a café demonstrating their formidable fingerpicking skills. I didn’t know any of their songs but playing ‘Angel Band’ caused some rather impressive harmonies. I miss singing with you, Stephanie and Ruth!!
Also crazy for anyone who is a fan of maps, orienteering, or the earth’s magnetic field, magnetic declination here is around 21 degrees!!! (so if you calculate it in the wrong direction, you could potentially be turned 42 degrees from the point you are intending to go!!)
Interesting happenings of the past few weeks:
1) worked with eight other people to plant kanuka on the Otago Peninsula. I went with the understanding that we were attempting to bolster dwindling populations of bees but it turned out that was a cover for the real project, providing habitat for a species that is being poached. I got to meet Lala, one of the founding members of STOP (Save the Otago Peninsula) who is involved in tons of conservation groups in Otago. While staking down weed mats, I saw a skink and one of the coolest stick bugs I’ve ever seen.
2) went to a water conservation order hearing for the Nevis river area. It turned out it was the second round of hearings by a special tribunal, such that the read submissions were really nitpicky responses to arguments I hadn’t heard and pretty much everyone there besides me were presenting evidence. I had a cool conversation with the guy next to me (from Otago Fish and Wildlife??) about how the process worked and the hydroelectric plans being considered by the power company.
3) finally went to the archives! (it only took me two months to find it...) Very, very cool place. I looked at a crazy missionary’s autobiography (and an even crazier children's book about the deeds of that missionary), a tourist travel account for the Pacific Islands from the 1900s, an illegible microfilm journal which was supposed to be about recruiting workers from the New Hebrides, and huge stacks of photographs. In addition to material useful for my essay, I found some 100 year old pictures a volcano. :-)
4) played “extreme” croquet. (at night with headlamps and with the weather threatening to turn wet).
(my game face)
5) attended the Dunedin Folk Club. The evening featured a wide variety of styles - starting with wooden flute and bagpipe and ended with a piece for tubular bells, banjo, and sawed cymbals (cymbals played with a bow). For the first half hour I was probably the only person there under forty… it made me miss having instruments to play on. So I went to an informal open mic session in the hopes of temporarily borrowing a guitar. Despite how it was publicized, it turned out being just the regulars of the club sitting around at a table in a café demonstrating their formidable fingerpicking skills. I didn’t know any of their songs but playing ‘Angel Band’ caused some rather impressive harmonies. I miss singing with you, Stephanie and Ruth!!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Learn to speak Kiwi (part 2)
turns of phrase:
“have a go” or “its your go” = it’s your turn
take the piss = to be given a hard time for something
full on - dense, challenging, difficult...as in “that reading was full on”
Are you winning? (asked if someone walks up when you are studying ) = are things going well?, are you getting a lot done?
Crack up = that’s funny
Good on ya! = congratulations (can be used sarcastically as well)
heaps = lots....as in "there were heaps of sheep in the road"
terms:
torch = flashlight
lolly = candy
rubber = eraser
boot = trunk of a vehicle
take-away = takeout; also a type of fast food restaurant which only serves takeout (they have no tables to sit at.) Typical options are hamburgers, fish and chips, and chinese (often all at the same place).
“have a go” or “its your go” = it’s your turn
take the piss = to be given a hard time for something
full on - dense, challenging, difficult...as in “that reading was full on”
Are you winning? (asked if someone walks up when you are studying ) = are things going well?, are you getting a lot done?
Crack up = that’s funny
Good on ya! = congratulations (can be used sarcastically as well)
heaps = lots....as in "there were heaps of sheep in the road"
terms:
torch = flashlight
lolly = candy
rubber = eraser
boot = trunk of a vehicle
take-away = takeout; also a type of fast food restaurant which only serves takeout (they have no tables to sit at.) Typical options are hamburgers, fish and chips, and chinese (often all at the same place).
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Reflection Time! : haka and maori women's rights
In Maori Society last week, we talked about performing arts and in doing so spoke to one of the questions I posed in my original reflections – what is the Maori opinion regarding the All Blacks use of the haka at sporting matches. I can now say with some confidence: not favourable. The “Ka Mate” haka has been used by the national rugby team since 1903 and is typically interpreted by sports announcers and the general public to be an appropriated war dance used to intimidate the opposing players. But while certain types of haka were used for war, the category extends to many other types of dance as well. “Ka Mate” is technically not a war dance in either form, content (expresses relief and thanks of a chief who narrowly escaped death), or the way it is performed (without weapons).
The iwi (tribe) of Te Rauparaha (the man who wrote the piece) have recently filed a lawsuit for intellectual property rights, something which would be extremely interesting to know more about. Their goal was not to gain royalties for its use but rather to try to regain control over the cultural practice to prevent its further exploitation and misinterpretation. A spokesperson for the All Blacks apparently said that “the haka is bigger than Maori” - that it should not be restricted to a specific tribe but rather has acquired a new and national meaning. While this sounds all well and good, it leads to interesting issues surrounding the appropriateness and way in which Maori symbols are used. As our lecturer pointed out, these symbols at the very least become divorced from their original purpose and history (something important in Maori worldview) and often end up actively involved in the perpetuation of misinformation about the specific practices and culture as a whole (such as in haka being known as a war dance). Plus, it arguably allows for a superficial (read advertisable) embrace of Maori things while practices and perspectives that are more difficult to deal with are ignored.
Among reasons for thinking that nationalizing Maori symbols is a bad thing, the haka is frequently exploited in advertising. For example, this advertisement for the 2007 World Cup match between NZ and France (I’m not going to even try a full on critique of that as there is way too much wrong about it. For a start: primitive/timelessness of Maori culture, objectifying, eroticizing women, isolated and paradisiacal tropics) The haka has further been used and spoofed across the globe. For example, this Scottish employment commercial.
I think I’m going to peg this as just above using demeaning caricatures of native peoples as mascots for American sports teams (like the Florida State Seminoles).
I am also pretty conflicted about Maori views on gender role division. Lecturers and texts take great care to emphasize the importance that women play in childbearing roles and on the marae (meeting house complex). They seek to explain (justify) the logic behind their exclusion from certain ritual leadership roles and place seated behind the men in the marae. I am interested to see how/whether views have changed with regards to the women’s rights movement and how cultural and gender identities intersect/conflict. (Mainly discussions from my Community Based Learning class last year regarding tensions between Native American and women’s rights movements are playing through my head – the perception that women acting out hurt the strength of the indigenous cause because it criticizes cultural values.) To what extent should traditions be maintained in continuation of old cultural practices and when can they be challenged? Does Maori minority in numbers (and consequent risk of being swamped by dominant Pakeha ideas) present an obstacle to cultural evolution? In other words, the desire to maintain something distinct and resist the other major way of being prevent change.
I am impressed overall though with the unique amount of consideration of Maori concerns in NZ law. Studying the resource management act, you find that consultation with iwi is firmly built into the consent process and the document openly recognizes the importance of wahi tapu (reserved/sacred sites) and the “principles” of the Treaty of Waitangi (vague to be sure, and possibly would be better to have part of the treaty text reproduced, but still way beyond the typical treatment of treaties in the US). Also, marae have been built on several university campuses, police are trained to say a karakia (prayer) and sprinkle water at the site of any fatal incident, and there are Maori language TV shows and radio stations.
Current topics I'm curious about:
- Maori opinion on contemporary hot topic debates such as abortion, capital punishment (or just punishment by the state in general), and homosexuality.
- Bastion Point, NZ 1977 vs. Alcatraz Island, CA 1969 (both involved occupation of an area for an extended period of time in order to bring attention to indigenous issues) Based on what little I know about either, it would be interesting to compare government responses to these protests.
The iwi (tribe) of Te Rauparaha (the man who wrote the piece) have recently filed a lawsuit for intellectual property rights, something which would be extremely interesting to know more about. Their goal was not to gain royalties for its use but rather to try to regain control over the cultural practice to prevent its further exploitation and misinterpretation. A spokesperson for the All Blacks apparently said that “the haka is bigger than Maori” - that it should not be restricted to a specific tribe but rather has acquired a new and national meaning. While this sounds all well and good, it leads to interesting issues surrounding the appropriateness and way in which Maori symbols are used. As our lecturer pointed out, these symbols at the very least become divorced from their original purpose and history (something important in Maori worldview) and often end up actively involved in the perpetuation of misinformation about the specific practices and culture as a whole (such as in haka being known as a war dance). Plus, it arguably allows for a superficial (read advertisable) embrace of Maori things while practices and perspectives that are more difficult to deal with are ignored.
Among reasons for thinking that nationalizing Maori symbols is a bad thing, the haka is frequently exploited in advertising. For example, this advertisement for the 2007 World Cup match between NZ and France (I’m not going to even try a full on critique of that as there is way too much wrong about it. For a start: primitive/timelessness of Maori culture, objectifying, eroticizing women, isolated and paradisiacal tropics) The haka has further been used and spoofed across the globe. For example, this Scottish employment commercial.
I think I’m going to peg this as just above using demeaning caricatures of native peoples as mascots for American sports teams (like the Florida State Seminoles).
I am also pretty conflicted about Maori views on gender role division. Lecturers and texts take great care to emphasize the importance that women play in childbearing roles and on the marae (meeting house complex). They seek to explain (justify) the logic behind their exclusion from certain ritual leadership roles and place seated behind the men in the marae. I am interested to see how/whether views have changed with regards to the women’s rights movement and how cultural and gender identities intersect/conflict. (Mainly discussions from my Community Based Learning class last year regarding tensions between Native American and women’s rights movements are playing through my head – the perception that women acting out hurt the strength of the indigenous cause because it criticizes cultural values.) To what extent should traditions be maintained in continuation of old cultural practices and when can they be challenged? Does Maori minority in numbers (and consequent risk of being swamped by dominant Pakeha ideas) present an obstacle to cultural evolution? In other words, the desire to maintain something distinct and resist the other major way of being prevent change.
I am impressed overall though with the unique amount of consideration of Maori concerns in NZ law. Studying the resource management act, you find that consultation with iwi is firmly built into the consent process and the document openly recognizes the importance of wahi tapu (reserved/sacred sites) and the “principles” of the Treaty of Waitangi (vague to be sure, and possibly would be better to have part of the treaty text reproduced, but still way beyond the typical treatment of treaties in the US). Also, marae have been built on several university campuses, police are trained to say a karakia (prayer) and sprinkle water at the site of any fatal incident, and there are Maori language TV shows and radio stations.
Current topics I'm curious about:
- Maori opinion on contemporary hot topic debates such as abortion, capital punishment (or just punishment by the state in general), and homosexuality.
- Bastion Point, NZ 1977 vs. Alcatraz Island, CA 1969 (both involved occupation of an area for an extended period of time in order to bring attention to indigenous issues) Based on what little I know about either, it would be interesting to compare government responses to these protests.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Party in the Bush!
Every year the Otago University Tramping Club puts on event known as "Bushball" during which club members backpack to Mount Aspiring Hut and once there have a formal dinner (this year a masquerade) and dance party. Around forty of us packed into vans on a Friday evening and drove to a carpark in the Matukituki Valley.
I was too cheap to rent a tent so I slept with seven others under a fly erected between two vans which subsequently blew down causing us to sleep under a picnic shelter. In the morning, we tramped between amazing snow-covered peaks, picking our way around cow poo, crossing streamlets to reach the hut. Upon arrival (it was raining by this point), we set up our beds, then traded our soggy socks and thermals to put on tuxes and dresses. We ate a three course meal complete with gourmet cheese and wine, turned up the music, and danced (and drank) until late. Some of us wandered outside to admire the moonlight on the mountains and the incredible stars. Hiking boots, wool socks, and fleece combined with formal attire is super stylish. The next morning it snowed (it is winter I suppose…) followed by rain, making for a very, very cold, slippery, muddy hike back. During the ride back I had a great conversation with a nontraditional (in his 30s) geology student who told us about the history and recent politics of the towns we were traveling through and ranted about the problems with the American health care system. Can’t wait to go back to the Southern Alps!
I was too cheap to rent a tent so I slept with seven others under a fly erected between two vans which subsequently blew down causing us to sleep under a picnic shelter. In the morning, we tramped between amazing snow-covered peaks, picking our way around cow poo, crossing streamlets to reach the hut. Upon arrival (it was raining by this point), we set up our beds, then traded our soggy socks and thermals to put on tuxes and dresses. We ate a three course meal complete with gourmet cheese and wine, turned up the music, and danced (and drank) until late. Some of us wandered outside to admire the moonlight on the mountains and the incredible stars. Hiking boots, wool socks, and fleece combined with formal attire is super stylish. The next morning it snowed (it is winter I suppose…) followed by rain, making for a very, very cold, slippery, muddy hike back. During the ride back I had a great conversation with a nontraditional (in his 30s) geology student who told us about the history and recent politics of the towns we were traveling through and ranted about the problems with the American health care system. Can’t wait to go back to the Southern Alps!
Learn to speak Kiwi (part 1)
Turns of phrase:
have a think....think about it
wee....as in: “Take a look at this wee graph”
eh.....interjected at the ends of sentences (several kiwis I know use it as much as a stereotyped Canadian)
flash....posh, flashy as in: “that pub was real flash”
sweet as.....usually used to mean very sweet - as if you are aiming for a phrase like “sweet as sugar” but then leave out the comparison. Can be used for other adjectives too like “weird as” or “paranoid as”
keen....as in: “Let me know if anyone is keen to come tramping”
cheers.....not just when drink, also can mean something like thank you
ta....thank you
terms:
scroggin = trail mix, gorp
muesli = granola
carpark = parking lot
holiday = vacation
tramping = NZ style hiking
Also: “Kiwi” refers to either the bird or NZlander but not the fruit. That is “kiwi fruit.”
have a think....think about it
wee....as in: “Take a look at this wee graph”
eh.....interjected at the ends of sentences (several kiwis I know use it as much as a stereotyped Canadian)
flash....posh, flashy as in: “that pub was real flash”
sweet as.....usually used to mean very sweet - as if you are aiming for a phrase like “sweet as sugar” but then leave out the comparison. Can be used for other adjectives too like “weird as” or “paranoid as”
keen....as in: “Let me know if anyone is keen to come tramping”
cheers.....not just when drink, also can mean something like thank you
ta....thank you
terms:
scroggin = trail mix, gorp
muesli = granola
carpark = parking lot
holiday = vacation
tramping = NZ style hiking
Also: “Kiwi” refers to either the bird or NZlander but not the fruit. That is “kiwi fruit.”
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